AAJ TAK's News Channel's Success Story

In the early 1990s, the Government of India (GoI) allowed the entry of private channels into the entertainment software industry. Since then, there has been a steady growth in the entertainment genre. Gradually, niche genres like Music, Sports, Kids, Movies (English, Hindi and regional languages) and News emerged.

In the early 2000s, there was growth in the news genre in terms of audience share and number of channels. According to TAM, the overall television audience share of news channels increased from 1.5 per cent in 2001 to 3 per cent in 2002. Similarly, the corporate advertising spend in niche areas also increased as companies could reach specific viewer segments through these channels...

According to Aaj Tak officials though, it was a major advantage, as they were able to observe what the competitors did and what their weaknesses were, and use this knowledge to their advantage. Aaj Tak also had the advantage of being part of a media group whose core competence was news gathering and reporting. TVTN, which ran the channel, had extensive experience in production of news and current affairs programs as it used to produce them for other channels, whereas STAR and ZEE had established themselves as entertainment channels and then moved on to news. According to TVTN, market research showed that there was scope for a 24-hour Hindi news channel...